Abstract
As the second most abundant mineral element in the soil,silicon has been found to alleviate the adverse impact of drought in many plant species and increase the water use efficiency in others.If the water use efficiency of alfalfa could be enhanced by simply adding silicate to the soil,this measure could potentially be applied in pasture management to face rising irrigation costs and water demand from inadequate supplies of surface water,together with declining water tables.Therefore,the effects of addition of silicon on the water use efficiency and forage yield component of alfalfa(Medicago sativa L.) were investigated across four soil moisture environments.This study shows that addition of silicon improved water use efficiency of alfalfa under lightly(65% of field water capacity) and moderately(50% of field water capacity) water-stressed conditions,by decreasing the transpiration rate(p0.05) but it had no effect on alfalfa water use efficiency under wet(80% of field water capacity) and seriously(35% of field water capacity) water-stressed conditions.This study also indicated that addition of silicon significantly increased the forage biomass by promoting shoot development(p0.05) and enhancing the plant height under the moderately water-stressed condition and only by enhancing the shoot development under the slightly water-stress rather than biomass per branch(p0.05).The results of this study suggest that improvement of water use efficiency of alfalfa by added silicon is regulated by soil moisture.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon improved alfalfa water use efficiency at 65% field capacity.
- Taxon
- alfalfa
Medicago sativae0 - Treatment
- addition of silicone0
- Outcome
- water use efficiencye0
- Direction
- improvede0
- Qualifier
- lightly(65% of field water capacity)e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“addition of silicon improved water use efficiency of alfalfa under lightly(65% of field water capacity) and moderately(50% of field water capacity) water-stressed conditions”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon improved alfalfa water use efficiency at 50% field capacity.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- addition of silicone0
- Outcome
- water use efficiencye0
- Direction
- improvede0
- Qualifier
- moderately(50% of field water capacity)e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“addition of silicon improved water use efficiency of alfalfa under lightly(65% of field water capacity) and moderately(50% of field water capacity) water-stressed conditions”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon decreased alfalfa transpiration under light and moderate water stress.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- addition of silicone0
- Outcome
- transpiration ratee0
- Direction
- decreasinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“addition of silicon improved water use efficiency of alfalfa under lightly(65% of field water capacity) and moderately(50% of field water capacity) water-stressed conditions,by decreasing the transpiration rate(p0.05)”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon had no reported effect on alfalfa water use efficiency at 80% field capacity.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- addition of silicone1
- Outcome
- water use efficiencye0
- Direction
- no effecte0
- Qualifier
- wet(80% of field water capacity)e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“it had no effect on alfalfa water use efficiency under wet(80% of field water capacity) and seriously(35% of field water capacity) water-stressed conditions”
e1“effects of addition of silicon on the water use efficiency”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon had no reported effect on alfalfa water use efficiency at 35% field capacity.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- addition of silicone1
- Outcome
- water use efficiencye0
- Direction
- no effecte0
- Qualifier
- seriously(35% of field water capacity)e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“it had no effect on alfalfa water use efficiency under wet(80% of field water capacity) and seriously(35% of field water capacity) water-stressed conditions”
e1“effects of addition of silicon on the water use efficiency”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon significantly increased alfalfa forage biomass under moderate water stress.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae1
- Treatment
- addition of silicone0
- Outcome
- forage biomasse0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Qualifier
- moderately water-stressed conditione0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“addition of silicon significantly increased the forage biomass by promoting shoot development(p0.05) and enhancing the plant height under the moderately water-stressed condition”
e1“forage yield component of alfalfa(Medicago sativa L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon promoted alfalfa shoot development under moderate water stress.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae1
- Treatment
- addition of silicone0
- Outcome
- shoot developmente0
- Direction
- promotinge0
- Qualifier
- moderately water-stressed conditione0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“addition of silicon significantly increased the forage biomass by promoting shoot development(p0.05) and enhancing the plant height under the moderately water-stressed condition”
e1“forage yield component of alfalfa(Medicago sativa L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon enhanced alfalfa height under moderate water stress.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae1
- Treatment
- addition of silicone0
- Outcome
- plant heighte0
- Direction
- enhancinge0
- Qualifier
- moderately water-stressed conditione0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“addition of silicon significantly increased the forage biomass by promoting shoot development(p0.05) and enhancing the plant height under the moderately water-stressed condition”
e1“forage yield component of alfalfa(Medicago sativa L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Under slight water stress, silicon enhanced shoot development but not biomass per branch.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae2
- Treatment
- addition of silicone1
- Outcome
- shoot developmente0
- Direction
- enhancinge0
- Qualifier
- slightly water-stresse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“only by enhancing the shoot development under the slightly water-stress rather than biomass per branch(p0.05)”
e1“effects of addition of silicon on the water use efficiency”
e2“water use efficiency of alfalfa under lightly”
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon improvement of alfalfa water use efficiency depended on soil moisture.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativae0
- Treatment
- added silicone0
- Outcome
- water use efficiencye0
- Qualifier
- soil moisturee0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“improvement of water use efficiency of alfalfa by added silicon is regulated by soil moisture”
The same questions in other papers
silicon atom · yield · Medicago sativa (alfalfa)Results differ
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- positive
- positive
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11 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction
- no effect
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See all 13 papers →silicon atom · physiology: water · Medicago sativa (alfalfa)Results agree
2 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.